“Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands.”
(Psalm 119:73, NIV84)
(Psalm 119:73, NIV84)
“F. B. Meyer explained it this way: “A bar of iron worth $2.50, when wrought into horseshoes is worth $5. If made into needles it is worth $175. If into penknife blades it is worth $1,625. If made into springs for watches it is worth $125,000. What a ‘trial by fire’ that bar must undergo to be worth this! But the more it is manipulated, and the more it is hammered and passed through the heat, beaten, pounded, and polished, the greater its value.”
Christian, are you wondering about the trials through which you are passing? With impatient heart are you saying, “How long, O Lord?” The heat of the flame and the blows of the hammer are necessary if you are to be more than an unpolished, rough bar of iron. God’s all-wise plan, though it calls for the fire, produces the valuable watch spring of maturity. His very best for your life has behind it His perfect timing. - P.R.V.” (Our Daily Bread, December 7, as printed in 10,000 Sermon Illustrations).
Around you right now, hidden before your eyes, God’s hand is working to mold and recreate you into a more beautiful you. It is God’s plan that you learn what is required to be a true child of faith. Your response to God’s handiwork will determine what you get out of life. If you choose to ignore God’s teachings, you will fail spiritually. If you learn the deeper spiritual facts of life, you will grow in many ways into a more perfect child of God.
Psalm 119:73, written above, contains an Old Testament explanation of this transformative work of God. The author of this scripture claimed that God’s hands “made me and formed me”. God gave the author “understanding to learn” God’s righteous commands. The psalmist was convinced that God shapes human history and each life. God forms the situations and watches the decisions you make. God determines your level of learning and seeks to deepen your spiritual connection with the Divine.
Jennifer Rothschild is not only a woman of deep faith; she is also blind. In an article on a web site she designed and maintains, she wrote the following:
“Sometimes when hard things last way too long, our hearts can get hard or angry. Sometimes we can feel like we are the only one who suffers and grow resentful of others who seemingly have it easier. But God doesn’t allow the difficult trials and situations to stay in your life to make you hard and angry, does He? Think about it – of course not. Anger over what doesn’t change in your life does not change you for the better, it changes you for the worse.
When I look at my life, sometimes I wonder if one of the reasons He hasn’t changed my blindness is because He’s used it to soften my heart. I feel empathy for others so deeply. Mercy and grace are my first response to others’ failures and sorrows. That isn’t because I am a super saint! It’s because blindness has been a tool in the hand of God that He has used to chip away lots of pride and self-sufficiency. And, He’s still got a lot of work to do!
A hard heart is worse than any hard circumstance you face. Let God use that hard thing in your life to change you into a softer, more gentle empathetic person. Your circumstance may not ever change, but when your heart changes you will have the peace you long for.” (https://www.jenniferrothschild.com/god-doesnt-change-circumstances/)
All of us have challenges that don’t go away. Your challenges can either cause you to be bitter and resentful or they can make you strong and more gracious and more connected with God. The hardships in your life will become something that defines you, shapes you molds you. Behind all this work, God is choosing to take away some of these hardships, ease some, and leave others in place to help you grow and adapt into a more perfect you.
How have challenges and hardships affected your mind and heart and soul? Can you see how God has been at work in your life, even through hardships, molding and shaping your soul?
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2, NIV84)
Christian, are you wondering about the trials through which you are passing? With impatient heart are you saying, “How long, O Lord?” The heat of the flame and the blows of the hammer are necessary if you are to be more than an unpolished, rough bar of iron. God’s all-wise plan, though it calls for the fire, produces the valuable watch spring of maturity. His very best for your life has behind it His perfect timing. - P.R.V.” (Our Daily Bread, December 7, as printed in 10,000 Sermon Illustrations).
Around you right now, hidden before your eyes, God’s hand is working to mold and recreate you into a more beautiful you. It is God’s plan that you learn what is required to be a true child of faith. Your response to God’s handiwork will determine what you get out of life. If you choose to ignore God’s teachings, you will fail spiritually. If you learn the deeper spiritual facts of life, you will grow in many ways into a more perfect child of God.
Psalm 119:73, written above, contains an Old Testament explanation of this transformative work of God. The author of this scripture claimed that God’s hands “made me and formed me”. God gave the author “understanding to learn” God’s righteous commands. The psalmist was convinced that God shapes human history and each life. God forms the situations and watches the decisions you make. God determines your level of learning and seeks to deepen your spiritual connection with the Divine.
Jennifer Rothschild is not only a woman of deep faith; she is also blind. In an article on a web site she designed and maintains, she wrote the following:
“Sometimes when hard things last way too long, our hearts can get hard or angry. Sometimes we can feel like we are the only one who suffers and grow resentful of others who seemingly have it easier. But God doesn’t allow the difficult trials and situations to stay in your life to make you hard and angry, does He? Think about it – of course not. Anger over what doesn’t change in your life does not change you for the better, it changes you for the worse.
When I look at my life, sometimes I wonder if one of the reasons He hasn’t changed my blindness is because He’s used it to soften my heart. I feel empathy for others so deeply. Mercy and grace are my first response to others’ failures and sorrows. That isn’t because I am a super saint! It’s because blindness has been a tool in the hand of God that He has used to chip away lots of pride and self-sufficiency. And, He’s still got a lot of work to do!
A hard heart is worse than any hard circumstance you face. Let God use that hard thing in your life to change you into a softer, more gentle empathetic person. Your circumstance may not ever change, but when your heart changes you will have the peace you long for.” (https://www.jenniferrothschild.com/god-doesnt-change-circumstances/)
All of us have challenges that don’t go away. Your challenges can either cause you to be bitter and resentful or they can make you strong and more gracious and more connected with God. The hardships in your life will become something that defines you, shapes you molds you. Behind all this work, God is choosing to take away some of these hardships, ease some, and leave others in place to help you grow and adapt into a more perfect you.
How have challenges and hardships affected your mind and heart and soul? Can you see how God has been at work in your life, even through hardships, molding and shaping your soul?
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2, NIV84)